https://www.rt.com/information/608779-germany-scholz-ukraine-nazi-fighter/Germany’s Scholz poses with wounded soldier who allegedly has neo-Nazi ties (PHOTO)

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has met with a member of a Ukrainian army unit believed to have neo-Nazi hyperlinks, throughout his go to to the nation this week. Video footage of Scholz with the wounded fighter was posted on X by Ukrainian chief Vladimir Zelensky.

The German head of presidency visited Ukraine on Monday, the place he held talks with Zelensky that had been preceded by a joint go to to a hospital the place wounded army personnel are being handled.

Commenting on Scholz’s go to, X person Moss Robeson, who claims to be an impartial researcher of Ukrainian fascism and Nazism, wrote that Zelensky had launched the German official to an injured “fighter from the 🇺🇦Nationwide Guard battalion affiliated with the far-right Svoboda social gathering.” In response to the put up, the social gathering has ties to Germany’s neo-Nazi social gathering ‘Der Dritte Weg’ (The Third Means).

A readout on the German chancellor’s web site quotes him as reiterating Berlin’s unwavering assist for Kiev throughout a joint press convention with Zelensky on Monday. Scholz added that his focus was on guaranteeing that Ukraine can be negotiating from a positive place throughout any potential talks with Russia.

The Kremlin has lengthy maintained that far-right parts have infiltrated the Ukrainian army and public authorities, and has described the “denazification” of the nation as one in every of its ongoing army marketing campaign’s goals.

The Azov battalion is among the many most notable examples of those tendencies, Moscow says.

Established as a volunteer unit in 2014 and included into Ukraine’s Nationwide Guard a 12 months later, Azov infamously makes use of banners with the Wolfsangel image, which was additionally utilized by a number of German divisions throughout World Struggle II, together with the 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich.

Lots of its fighters are identified energetic and former members of ultranationalist and neo-Nazi teams, in addition to teams of far-right soccer hooligans.

The battalion’s co-founder is outstanding Ukrainian nationalist and white supremacist Andrey Biletsky.

Azov has been accused of committing conflict crimes in Donbass throughout the course of the armed battle there that began in 2014. It has been formally designated a terrorist group by Russian authorities.

In early 2023, Biletsky arrange the third Assault Brigade, which is made up of quite a few Azov members. This unit has since tried to water down its far-right imagery, even staging a public-relations tour throughout Europe this summer time.

Nonetheless, the Ukrainian brigade needed to cancel deliberate occasions in such cities as Berlin, Rotterdam, Brussels and Cologne amid a backlash from native left-wing activists and politicians.

Commenting on the unit’s PR train, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov referred to as it a “disgusting phenomenon.”